Currently, emission reduction of greenhouse effect gas is understood as a global problem, and also in our country, increase in consumed electric power in a civilian sector is especially regarded as a problem remarkably. In order to solve this problem, heretofore, proposed is a system which collects and analyzes an energy consumption amount which is measured for every floor of buildings (dwelling house, office building or the like) or for every electric power system such as a distribution board and distribution switchboard, and displays the acquired analysis result. According to this system, a manager and user associated with a floor or electric power system which has been an object can figure out visually this analysis result.
A system like this is generally referred to as an energy management system. In particular, among the energy management systems, what is used in a home is referred to as HEMS (Home Energy Management System), and what is used in an office building is referred to as BEMS (Building Energy Management System).
By the way, there are the following problems in a conventional energy management system. That is, it is a problem that although the conventional energy management system can figure out a consumed electric power amount of facilities (lighting facilities, air-conditioning facilities or the like) embedded directly in buildings in a unit of floor, the system cannot figure out a consumed electric power amount of an electric device connected to an electric power supplying port such as a wall socket. As a result, since analysis of whether an electric device connected to a wall socket is consuming effectively electric power is impossible, planning of a reduction plan and reduction of an actual electric power consumption amount is difficult.
In order to solve a problem like this, Patent Document 1 has disclosed an electric power management system provided with a wall socket to which an electric device is connected, a terminal which has a communication function, and a controller. Operation of the electric power management system disclosed in Patent Document 1 is as follows.
First, each terminal measures a consumed electric power amount of each electric device, and outputs the measured consumed electric power amount to a controller. The controller, based on the consumed electric power amount of each electric device, calculates a current consumed electric power amount and a trend for every time of the consumed electric power amount with respect to each electric device, and furthermore, calculates the total of current consumed electric power amount of all the electric devices and also the trend for every time of the consumed electric power amount. Then, the controller makes the acquired information displayed on a display screen.
In addition, the controller displays a current total consumed electric power or the like of the electric devices on a display screen, and at the same time, informs a user of that by using a warning message and an alarm sound in the case where the total consumed electric power amount is likely to exceed an amount of the maximum consumed electric power amount determined by a contract with an electric power company. As the result, occurrence of a situation where a breaker falls suddenly is suppressed. Furthermore, a user can check easily whether electric power is used too much.
In this way, according to the electric power management system disclosed in Patent Document 1, above-mentioned problems can be dissolved, and however, from a viewpoint of further reduction of an electric power consumption amount, the following problems have remained. That is, in the electric power management system disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is possible to perform warning or the like for a user in the case where a consumed electric power amount of each electric device is likely to exceed the maximum consumed electric power amount, and however, it is difficult to figure out electric power currently used needlessly under the situation where the maximum consumed electric power amount is not exceeded, and to reduce this.
On the other hand, Patent Document 2 discloses an electric power management system comprising: a detection means to detect a situation caused by an electric device; a power control means to control electric power consumed by the electric device; a determining condition input means to input a determining condition into the system; a determining condition storage means to store the inputted determining condition; a determining means; and a power control drive means.
In the electric power management system disclosed in Patent Document 2, the determining conditions is a condition used in the case of determining whether to control electric power of each electric device based on a result detected by the detection means. The determining means performs power control determined for each electric device in the case where the result detected by the detection means conforms to the determining condition. The power control drive means controls electric power consumed by the electric device using the power control means in accordance with the result determined by the determining means.
In the electric power management system disclosed in Patent Document 2, a condition by which electric power is controlled can be configured in advance for every individual electric device. Therefore, according to the electric power management system disclosed in Patent Document 2, it is considered that problems in Patent Document 1 can be dissolved since power consumption can be reduced for every electric device based on the configured condition.